Non-Financial Information
On 29 December 2018, Law 11/2018 of 28 December was published, amending the Code of Commerce, the Law on Capital Companies and the Law on the Auditing of Accounts, with regard to non-financial information and diversity.
This is a transposition of Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Parliament and Council on this matter.
This law increases the number of organisations obliged to present the non-financial information statement (NFS) as opposed to the Royal Decree – Law 18/2017, of 24 November, which limited the obligation to certain entities of public interest.
Integrated Reports
Real value is produced when all the information is integrated into a single document, relating the strategy, risks and opportunities, with the management and financial performance, as well as with social, environmental, economic, tax, resource consumption and corporate governance aspects, resulting in an Integrated Report.
Regulation UNE 19602 on Tax Compliance
Tax compliance is a standard to help businesses and other organizations prevent and manage tax risks as a civil society response to advance cooperative tax relationships.
Goals
This law seeks to enable organisations to increase the sustainability and confidence of investors, consumers and society in general; and to be able to measure, monitor and manage their performance and the impact that such risks have on society and to prevent, mitigate and/or mitigate the non-financial risks identified, not only in the organisation itself, but also in its supply and subcontracting chains.
Without prejudice to the provisions of Law 11/2018, various European and Spanish reference entities in this area recommend the preparation of the EINF and/or Integrated Reports by all organisations, even when they are not obliged to do so by law, due to the advantages and benefits that they entail:
- It allows them to show that their vision and strategy are aligned with responsible business principles and environmental and social issues in accordance with the Sustainable Development Objectives (SDA)
- Access to funding lines for national, European and international projects.
- Obtain new business partners
- Attract new consumers and customers
- Attracting and retaining talent
Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that in 2020, as part of the new European “Green Deal”, the amendment of the NPI Directive has begun to include more entities within its scope, suggesting a trend towards the generalisation of the obligation to have a NPI.
At BNFIX ADVISORY we observe that, given the new regulations and information requirements, the presentation of EINFs is of vital importance not only in commercial companies but also in foundations, associations, public bodies and other organisations.
We have long knowledge and experience in the preparation of Non-Financial Information Statements, as well as in Compliance and Integrated Reporting. As a result, in addition to the EINF and II on which we have worked, on 5 October a first framework agreement was signed with the Spanish Federation of Technology Centres (FEDIT), one of the main private R&D&I promoters in the country and an important ally of companies in their competitive and internationalisation strategy, which works to promote and encourage Innovation, Technological Development and Research in companies and society.
The objective of this agreement, to be extended with other organisations, is the collaboration and promotion for the provision of economic, legal, financial and strategic consultancy services, specifically in the areas of “Innovation in Corporate Reporting”, structuring, design and validation of all types of statements of the so-called Non-Financial Information (Corporate Social Responsibility Report, Corporate Governance Report, Environmental Sustainability Report, State of Non-Financial Information, Integrated Reports-Integrated Reporting and Compliance, among others), as well as in all those aspects related to this type of activities and their options for national and EU funds or projects.
